Over half a million coronavirus rapid testing kits that India ordered from China have been found to be faulty forcing them to cancel the order. The kits that were already in use in some states in India have been withdrawn after they were found to be giving false results in almost 95% of cases.
The kits that take around 30 minutes to deliver a result and are supposed to detect antibodies in the blood of people who may have had the infection.
Amid concerns that India was not doing enough to test for the novel virus, the Indian Medical Research Council (ICMR) was pushed to use the kits. The ICMR was initially reluctant, but cleared the way, importing the kits from two Chinese companies.
It was however noticed that the kits had an accuracy rate of only 5%, adding that they had used the kits on patients who they already knew were positive, but the tests had shown a “negative” result for antibodies.
Scientists had also raised concerned that the rapid testing kits cannot test for coronavirus itself. The test kits had also failed quality checks by the ICMR. Officials told local media that the government of India will “not lose a single rupee” from cancelling the order kits as they had not paid the amount in advance, and had cancelled the entire shipment”.